Editing Workshop

Do you edit while you write, wait until you’ve typed ‘The End’, or something in between? Why?

Do you start editing right away or do you let the story rest? (Line edit for those who edit while writing)

Do you start with the beginning and work your way to the end, or vice versa?

Do you go section by section or do the whole thing at once?

What do you look for first; character problems, plot holes, etc?

Do you use Alpha or Beta Readers? A Critique Group?

How do you know when you’re finished editing?

*Please keep in mind, all writing advice and/or rules given are guidelines, and processes can, and do, vary greatly from writer to writer (aka find what works for you)*

Types of Revision

Macro Issues

Medium Issues

Micro Issues

Line Editing

Story and Structure

Pacing

Dialogue

Repetition

Plot and Stakes

Scenes and Goals

Descriptions

Punctuation

Characters and Point of View

Character Growth & Story Arcs

Word Usage

Spelling

World Consistency

Transitions

Rhythm and Flow

Tenses

Passive Voice & Active Voice

In English, all sentences are in either “active” or “passive” voice.

A few examples will be the easiest way to show the difference between the active voice and passive voice.

Passive

Active

The ball was thrown by Billy.

Billy threw the ball.

It was raining

The rain poured down.

The child was carried in John’s arms.

John carried the child in his armsJohn carried the child. Redundancy removed

In a passive sentence, we often omit the actor completely. The uncertainty principle was formulated in 1927.

Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle in 1927.

In an active sentence, the person or thing responsible for the action in the sentence comes first. In a passive sentence, the person or thing acted on comes first, and the actor is added at the end, introduced with the preposition “by.” The passive form of the verb is signaled by a form of “to be”.

Why Choose Active Voice?

Sentences in the active voice have energy and directness, both of which will keep your reader turning the pages.

Active voice is less wordy than the passive voice, improving clarity and reducing word count. The passive voice shouldn’t be edited out completely; it has its uses too.

When is The Passive Voice Good to Use?

The passive voice can be powerful if you want to place the emphasis on the object of the sentence rather than the subject.

· You want to be vague about who is responsible: Mistakes were made. The cookies were stolen.It was decided that Steve should be executed. It looks like your car was hit.

· You are talking about a general truth: Rules are made to be broken. They were all dead.

· You are using it in dialogue: “She has been told several times,” he said.

And while it can be used anywhere, the goal is use it knowledgeably and with care.

A Bit About Filtering

“Filtering” is when you place a character between the detail you want to present and the reader. The term was started by Janet Burroway in her book On Writing. It’s also known as distancing. Filter words remind the reader they’re reading, explain things that are obvious, and often lead a writer into telling or crafting passive sentences.

Some major culprits are:

to see, to hear, to think, to touch, to wonder, to realize, to watch, to look, to seem, to feel (or feel like), can, to decide, to sound (or sound like), to know.

You might, for example, write:

Sarahfelt a sinking feeling as she realized she’d forgotten her purse back at the cafe across the street. She saw cars filing past, their bumpers end-to-end. She heard the impatient honk of horns andwondered how she could quickly cross the busy road before someone took off with her bag. But the trafficseemed impenetrable, and she decided to run to the intersection at the end of the block.

Eliminating the bolded words removes the filters that distance us, the readers, from this character’s experience:

Sarah’s stomach sank. Her purse—she’d forgotten it back at the cafe across the street. Cars filed past, their bumpers end-to-end. Horns honked impatiently. Could she make it across the road before someone took off with her bag? She ran past the impenetrable stream of traffic, toward the intersection at the end of the block.

Finding Your Pet Phrases or Words

Nearly every writer has a few pet or catch phrases or favorite words that get used too frequently. It’s not always the same from project to project but most of us have them. On reading a first draft you may find a lot of characters grinning wickedly, smiling, gritting their teeth, biting their lip, and running their hands through their hair, all the time. These pet phrases can often be found following dialogue tags.

Favorite words can be harder to figure out. And again, they often differ between projects.

Clearly for this project a few of mine are know, back, get, asked, looked, like, need, and one.

This site also counts the number of times words are used, lets you change colours, layouts and fonts, as well as the number of words used to create the picture. It also lets you remove words from the picture (a simple right click and they’re gone). I removed my main characters’ names since I knew they were repeated a lot.

Check List

Words Commonly ConfusedA simple look up can correct mistakes.

Who vs that

Farther vs further

Bring vs take

Few vs less

Which vs that

In vs into

Only and just (are they modifying the right word)

On vs onto

Words to Avoid
These words can almost always cut without losing anything from the sentence. Often there’s another word that makes them redundant.

Then

Decided

Rather

Down

In order

Almost

Planned

Fairly

Over

Around

About

Very

Really

Together

Only

Begin

Sat

Somewhat

Behind

Just

Start

Truly

Up

Out

Even

Words to Rethink
These are words that often show up in told prose.

As

Although

Because

Until

While

Though

When

Later

Since

Through

Before

After

Word That Often Spell Trouble
Words that keep readers out of the moment or aren’t as active as they could to be. (filtering and passive words)

Of

Will be

Saw

Realized

Was, were (the was -ing forms)

To be

Smelled

Decided

Have, had

Able to

Wondered

Touched

Here

Thought

Watched

Knew

There

Felt

Seemed/Seemed like

Experienced

-ly

Heard

Sounded/Sounded like

Noticed

Words That Often Indicate Weak Prose
Some words read just fine, but with a little tweak, can strengthen a story and turn a lot of “good” sentences into great sentences.

Look

Want

There

Need

Here

The Hard Part
Go through each word and do a “find” and then look at the sentence. Then ask: